My Father's Friend: One Summer in Hell

In that unforgettable 1940 summer known as the Battle of Britain, the date September 15th stands out as the day the tide of war turned. Two massive waves of German bombers and their fighter support set upon the defences of London. They were met with the complete, unleashed commitment of Fighter Command.

Earthsearch: The Complete Radio Series I and II (Dramatised)

The acclaimed BBC Radio 4 space drama arrives in its entirety for the very first time, with a bonus introduction by creator and writer James Follett. The starship Challenger has been on a 115-year-long mission, exploring other galaxies for suitable Earth-like planets to colonise. The present crew of four were born on the ship and have never left it. But when the Challenger attempts to return to the crew's home planet, it discovers that the Earth has vanished!

The Berlin Deception

John Becker is hot on the trail of Hitler's fatal weakness. The Gestapo is closing in. On foot, by train, even on water, Becker is running and gunning for his life...and for the world. Hitler's Third Reich is rearming and planning for war. Churchill wants to stop him, but only Becker's report can reverse the British mood of appeasement. Cornered by the Gestapo, desperate to save his German collaborator Maria, Becker has mere days to ward off double disaster.

Hornet Flight

It is June 1941 and Denmark is under German occupation. On the rocky coast of Denmark, two brothers, Harald and Arne Olufsen, starkly different in nature, are straining against the rigid confines imposed by their austere, elderly parents and trying to find their own way in life. Meanwhile, a network of MI6 spies is attempting to decipher an encrypted Luftwaffe radio signal which mentions the new Freya-Gerät - a rudimentary form of German radar equipment.

In Berlin, Kurt Müller, an Abwehr signalman, discovers a colleague lying dead at his radio receiver. The criminal police dismiss the death as suicide, but Kurt is not convinced. Kurt follows a trail of mysteries, witnessing several atrocities that expose the Nazi regime for what it truly is. When the trail leads him to the German resistance, he faces the most difficult choices of his life. He must choose between his duty and his conscience, between his country and his family, between love and death.

The Pillars of the Earth: The Kingsbridge Novels, Book 1

The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known... of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect - a man divided in his soul... of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame... and of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state, and brother against brother.

Robert says:"The Pillars of the Earth"

Publisher's Summary

It is 1964, and Chris Nash is 20. His mother is married to Reg, whom Chris thinks is his father. He is, therefore, astonished when she tells him that his real father was a pilot, John Gregson, killed during the Second World War in an accident training Australian air crews. Chris sets out to discover more about the little-known incident. He tracks down his father's only living relative, and visits the site of the crash, near a small church in Bedfordshire.

In flashback, we see what happened to Gregson during the three days before the accident. He conducted his last bombing flight over Germany, and was seduced by an actress named Sarah. He visited his fiancée (Chris' mother), who broke off their engagement; unknown to him she was pregnant with Chris.

To commemorate the airmen who died in the crash, Chris organizes a memorial stone in the Bedfordshire churchyard, and a church service. To his amazement, a surprise guest turns up: an Australian who was the one survivor.

In talking to local people who were involved in the accident, and to his father's former engineer, Chris comes to believe there were seven airmen on the plane, not six as previously believed. And when he locates Sarah, the actress who seduced his father 20 years earlier, she tells him something that plays havoc with the lives of his whole family.

The audio book version is awful beyond belief to any native English listener. Whatever possessed the publishers to hire an American/Canadian God only knows what speaker to narrate a very English story. The utter car crash of mispronouncing of even simple words was in the end comic. Had the narrator just read the story in his own voice it wouldn't have been so bad but the abysmally bad attempts at accent is unforgivable. If I was the author of this book I would be heartbroken. It spoils what is actually a rather well told tale. Be sure not to have a hot drink in your hand when the main character visits Ireland. The attempted accent is indescribable. The aviation detail was well researched enough to wash over this ex RAF pedant without pain. If you have the choice read the printed version yourself.